


Ring o' Ring of Roses

by Azrael (TheAzrael)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV), The Umbrella Academy (TV) RPF
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, Apocalypse Fix-it, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Crying, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Mental Breakdown, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sad with a Happy Ending, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24205333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAzrael/pseuds/Azrael
Summary: His blood like water flows and ashes, ashes, they fall down dead...
Comments: 6
Kudos: 135





	Ring o' Ring of Roses

Number Five braced himself, wincing, and squinted his eyes, as he braved his way through the desert, that was once his town. The place he grew up and lived for 13 years before his hubris got him stuck in an apocalyptic future. What do you know? His asshole of a father was actually right. Time-travelling was another can of worms... he jumped in as a boy and came out as an acorn. Now Reginald's words made sense, as much as he loathed to admit. He was cursed to be alone here, forever. He could already feel this place doing a number on him. Eating away at his sanity and will. 

Oh, how many times Five almost ended his own life with a sharp edge of broken glass or a can, sometimes he dreamed and begged for death. It would've been far more merciful than his existence there. Nothing survived - rubble and ashes. Everywhere, clogging his nose, suffocating him, making his eyes water from the amount of smoke and dust he inhaled. Finally, he found a scarf, that he used to protect himself from the assault of the elements. Boiling, hot sun that was trying to cook him alive, and unforgiving chilly nights that were trying to freeze him to death. 

He probably would've snapped at one point, if not for his Dolores. 13-year-old Five, would've made fun of the boy he was today, laughing and mocking for talking to her, but now, this version of him was grateful to have her. Even if she was a figment of his fucked-up imagination. Even if she didn't really exist and this was his mind, twisting reality... or perhaps he was dead? There was no way to tell. 

Actually, he was pretty sure the dead don't eat. He was hungry all the time, but sadly, there was nothing to eat. Everything was destroyed, not a single thing survived. So he had to go and satisfy himself with cockroaches and worms (if he was lucky enough to find them). Sometimes he'd go hungry for a few days, forgetting to eat, or simply having nothing to. The worst - the lack of water. Luckily he found some small spring and used it to fill the dirty cans he found on the ground.

The worst day of his life? Finding the bodies of his siblings. The first thing he did, when he got stuck in the future, was to run back to the Academy and check out the place. It was demolished, nothing but a pile of stones. At first, he assumed that these people, littering the ground like broken toys, were some random, unlucky citizens that just happened to be there. Then he found the tattoos. More like brands, their _dear_ father used to brand them with. Small tattoos of a black umbrella, with their numbers on it. He remembered breaking down and sobbing there, clutching Luther's body, lovingly petting Allison's hair caked with blood and grime, shaking Klaus and Diego, and begging them to wake up. He didn't sign up for this, he was just a boy. He wanted his family back... please. He couldn't find Vanya's body, sweet little Vanya, who used to listen to him ramble about different theories and laws of physics, while she sat there, eating their Marshmallow and Peanutbutter sandwiches. Then he found her book. 

Thanks to that book, he found out that Ben was dead, died shortly after he left. Reading about his siblings' life, as if it was some sort of a novel, it was easier to distant himself. The book was ballsy, revealing all their darkest secrets, portraying Reginald as what he really was - a monster. His stomach hurt and his nose could still smell the vomit from when Reginald used to make him teleport through space until he puked. Or that one time, when he pushed him over the edge of the roof, telling him to save himself. He broke his arm, despite managing to teleport. Reginald just sneered and told him that he was wasting his potential and that he should stop whining. 

There was some sort of vindictive glee when he found out about his death. What horrified him, was the fact that Apocalypse happened shortly after the man's funeral. He needed to go back! He needed to warn his siblings of the coming danger and save them! He wouldn't allow this future to come true. He would change it! For sure!

In the end, he survived, because that's what he was - a survivor, no matter the cost.

* * *

Ben Hargreeves, Number Six, or Bentacles, as Klaus fondly called him, stood worriedly in front of his brother's face. And while Number Five couldn't see him, he was there, watching and worrying. Five had a faraway look in his eyes as if stuck in his own head. Ben knew that look all to well, when he had to sit there, in a cold alleyway and watch Klaus' high, praying to God that some scum wouldn't take advantage of his brother's situation. He hated drugs, he hated Klaus for taking them and ruining his life, but most of all, he _**hated**_ Reginald Hargreeves. The man, who drove his own _son_ to alcoholism and drugs.

But this wasn't about Klaus right now, he needed to help Five. Who stood there, watching with horrified eyes as the snow fell from the sky. As if it was the scariest monster he has ever seen. Ben has never seen anyone look at something so... harmless, with such horrified facial expression. Ben needed help, he wasn't corporeal and he couldn't be heard, so he needed to find someone who could hear him - Klaus. Dashing back into the house, Ben started looking for him, following an invisible cord, that tied him to his brother - Seance. 

"Klaus!" yelled Ben, a panicked expression on his handsome face, Klaus quickly stopped doing whatever Klaus-y thing he was doing and looked at Ben worriedly. Usually, he'd joke and ask who tickled his tentacle, but Ben looked scared, so he decided to save that joke for later.

"What's up, Benji-boy?" asked Klaus, in his usual flamboyant manner, spreading out his hands as if to hug him, but he couldn't fool Ben, who spent most of his life with him. Klaus knew that Ben knew that he was worried. 

"It's Five," said Ben, causing Klaus' worry to skyrocket, his mind conjuring the most disturbing images he could imagine, and trust me, he could imagine some really fucked-up shit. "He's outside, watching the snowfall, but Klaus... he's terrified, frozen. It's like he's not here. Go, help him, please!"

Begged Ben, Klaus nodded his head and dashed downstairs, getting strange looks from Diego and Luther, who decided to follow him outside. They came to a queer sight, watching exactly what Ben described. Five, with his eyes glazed over, staring at the snow with pure horror. 

Luther and Diego lingered in the background, since they sucked in comforting people, so the mission fell to Klaus, who approached his de-aged little big brother. 

"Fivey, you okay buddy?" asked Klaus, opting not to touch just yet. 

"Be gentle, Klaus," instructed Ben. "We don't know what's he's going through."

Klaus mutely nodded his head and placed a steady hand on Five's shoulder, lightly shaking it. Five's attention snapped to Klaus, staring at him bewildered as if he has seen a ghost. Klaus knew that expression quite well, he sees them all the time after all. 

"Klaus?" whispered out Five hoarsely, swallowing his saliva with a painful gulp. "Have you come to haunt me?"

Klaus and Ben shared a bewildered look. "I'm pretty sure I'm alive, buddy, same can't be said about Big Ben over there," he jutted out his thumb in Ben's direction. "Why do you think I'm dead?"

"I buried you. Luther and Diego and Allison and...and..." he started hyperventilating, while Klaus brought him closer, hugging him to his chest, cooing softly and petting his hair. Luther and Diego looked horrified, they had no idea that Five buried them or had seen their dead bodies. It must've been traumatizing for a 13-year-old boy, genius or no. 

"It's gonna be okay Five, we'll change the future, remember? We'll make sure that horrible vision never comes true... now, what are you doing here, do you like the view?"

"Gotta get out from the ashes," mumbled Five, his voice muffled, but they all heard him just fine. 

"F-F-Five, th-they're not a-ashes. It's snow," stuttered Diego, something he hasn't done since he was a kid, and if Luther noticed that little tidbit, he didn't point it out. "It's safe here. We're all s-safe," promised Diego as he approached Five and Klaus and hugged them. Feeling left out, Luther decided to invite himself in the group hug and bear-hugged all three of them with his huge hands. 

Five simply melted into their embrace, mentally exhausted, he didn't notice his consciousness slipping away. That's how he fell asleep, surrounded by his loved-ones, people he fought for, people he survived for this long. Klaus, despite being lanky and not as strong as Luther, caught him with ease, considering how light he was, it was no trouble. He'd wouldn't let him fall. 

* * *

Everything was going great, but then Vanya had to go and blow up the moon. As a last-ditch effort, Five teleported all of them through time

* * *

"I want to attempt to time-travel!" declared 13-year-old Number Five, disrupting the quiet, bonking loudly with a fork.

_He was ready to try_

Round and round we go...


End file.
